Ansah to play; Van Noy and Ihedigbo out

The Lions are getting one defensive playmaker back on the field Friday night vs. Jacksonville, but will be without a couple others.

The Lions are getting one defensive playmaker back on the field Friday night vs. Jacksonville, but will be without a couple others.

Defensive end Ziggy Ansah will play tonight after missing the team’s first two preseason games. Ansah has been recovering from an offseason shoulder surgery and was activated off the PUP list just last week.

He will not start, however. Second-year defensive end Devin Taylor is slated to take his spot in the lineup.

But the Lions will be without the services of rookie linebacker Kyle Van Noy and veteran safety James Ihedigbo. The Lions are resting Ihedigbo and Van Noy has an abdominal injury. It's unclear when Van Noy suffered the injury. He participated in the portion of practice open to the media all week.

The Lions will start Tahir Whitehead at linebacker tonight alongside Stephen Tullochand DeAndre Levy. Whitehead ran with the first team some in practice this week as head coach Jim Caldwell continues to give different players an opportunity to impress against better competition.

Whitehead has played mostly with the backups this preseason, but the only way to truly evaluate what he can do is to see him play against Jacksonville’s starters.

Also inactive for the Lions is rookie receiver TJ Jones, who is still on the PUP list with a shoulder injury.